The Scarlet Letters

Excellent Edition to the Ellery Queen series

I have run every book in this book series in order, and to date, this is by far one of the best novels in the Ellery Queen series, I guarantee you will not figure it out until the very end when Ellery Queen explains it

Different, but dull

You know how when authors try something different, it almost never works? This is one of those cases. The books is 80% setup, and 20% actual case, with Ellery trying to figure out a dying man's message written in blood (literally scarlet letters). The trouble here is that the setup is long and dull, and it's hard to care about Dirk, who's an utter bastard, and even Martha. Why does she stay with this guy? SPOILER ALERT:
Dirk's plot is way too complicated, and it's a wonder Martha didn't ruin the whole thing by going to Ellery, who's her friend, and saying, "Hey, I'm being blackmailed by some guy who says my husband commited murder. Can you prove Dirk is innocent?" After all, this is the sort of thing Ellery DOES.
The ending does nearly make up for the long, boring setup, but I'm leaving the 3 stars out of the frustration I felt listening to all the whining.

Riviting

The store was great. The twist at the end was totally unexpected. The narration was very clear.

An Interesting Twist

An interesting twist of a detective novel. It shows great literary style. It does not have some of the regular Ellery Queen cast, but showcases some lesser characters. Well worth the listen for mystery fans.

Lost interest

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Loved Ellery Queen when I was a teenager, but had no connection with the characters.